huge black birds

[BettyB]

Early this morning there were upwards of 30 enormous black birds on our land. ( mid Norfolk ) They were quite unafraid of people and appeared to be just parked and resting. Before we couild get a closer look they moved to the next field where they again just sat without being interested in looking for food.

Shags? cormorants? geese of some kind? Sorry not to have better description Can anyone identify? We have lived here for many years and never seen anything similar.

[solus]

The first and obvious thought is Rooks or Carrion Crows but I assume you're familiar with those species?

Geese would either be grey, or black and white and unless the light was very poor would be unlikely to appear all black.

Shags are almost wholly coastal so they weren't those: Cormorants do occur inland frequently at lakes, reservoirs, gravel pits and the like but I really don't think a whole bunch of 'em would be on the ground in a field - they would in any case appear noticeably upright.

If the light was poor I suppose a group of Buzzards on the ground might look very dark - they often feed in fields on worms, but I don't think they're all that common in Norfolk, even though the numbers are increasing nationwide.

Sorry, not a lot of help I'm afraid. Did they have long necks like geese; or long legs; did they show any pale underneath when they flew; did they make any noise?

Comes back down to Rooks or Crows for me....

[Deb London]

I feel sure Betty would have seen a crow on her land before now if she has lived there for years. What about Brent Geese? I saw a flock once and they did appear to be very dark-looking.

[rossy]

possibly cormorants , but the description is vague, had lots of gulls coming inland, and when they do this, its a sign of bad weather, its forecast it so be prepared, rossy.

[RoyW]

I would thik that geese is the most likely answer. Brent Geese would be a possibility, although they generally tend to stay near to the coast. A possible alternative would be Pink-footed Geese, which are dark brown, but can look very dark from a distance.
Cormorants do occasionally roost in fields in areas where there are no better roosting areas, but this is fairly unusual. If it was cormorants the upright posture should have been fairly noticeable.

Originally Posted by rossy

had lots of gulls coming inland, and when they do this, its a sign of bad weather, its forecast it so be prepared, rossy.

Our weather must be really bad for most of the year then!
Gulls are very common inland throughout the winter, regardless of the weather conditions. Large numbers can be found feeding at most inland landfill sites, with thousands gathering to roost together at large inland reservoirs and gravel pits!

[rossy]

yes roy i know of the gulls being inland throughout the year, but when they come from over the pennines, and down on the common near me, its a sign, time will tell, yes agree with you cormarants would or should be noticeable, but the lady hasnt give us much to go on. rossy

[RoyW]

Originally Posted by rossy

yes roy i know of the gulls being inland throughout the year, but when they come from over the pennines, and down on the common near me, its a sign, time will tell,

That's something that you'd have an extremely difficult time proving I'm afraid. I'd be pretty confident that gulls regularly cross the Pennines in large numbers. I've no idea how regularly they come down onto the commons near you, but there could be a lot of reasons for them to do this now - and if the weather does turn bad (as forecast) that would not in any way show that this is why you have recently seen gulls on your local commons. Anyway, this is off topic.


BettyB: Is there anything else that you can remember about these birds that might help with an ID?

[healfdan]

Betty B
Please give us a little more help.
If it was Cormorants in your field, at least a few would probably have adopted the classic spread wing posture, which looks a bit like a conductor addressing the orchestra. Second favourite would be Brent geese which are quite dark and tend not to panic. They will collectively move away from a person if he or she is not too close. Moving to the next field, but not grazing, would suggest the birds are resting on route to feeding grounds. Your local fields happened to be convenient.

[BettyB]

Thanks to all for replies.

Wish I could give more information but we didn't even have time to get back with binoculars before they moved onto the next field so no opportunity to see them standing or moving.

Definitely not crows or rooks which we have aplenty. MUCH bigger than that. I think bigger than Brent geese, too.

Shags are almost wholly coastal so they weren't those: Cormorants do occur inland frequently at lakes, reservoirs, gravel pits and the like but I really don't think a whole bunch of 'em would be on the ground in a field - they would in any case appear noticeably upright

[quote]Sorry, not a lot of help I'm afraid. Did they have long necks like geese; or long legs; did they show any pale underneath when they flew; did they make any noise?[quote]

Sorry, Solus, can't give much more info. but, yes, they did have long necks, no opprtunity to see legs, no noise. There is a small lake/pond in nearby water meadow, gravel pits within a mile or so and maybe mid Norfolk is not really accurate. Ten miles from Pensthorpe so not so far from N. Norfolk coast. Does that make cormorants more of a possibility?

[Picidae]

Originally Posted by RoyW

I would thik that geese is the most likely answer. Brent Geese would be a possibility, although they generally tend to stay near to the coast. A possible alternative would be Pink-footed Geese, which are dark brown, but can look very dark from a distance.

Agreed - to my recollection, I've not seen Cormorants roosting en flock in fields, they usually roost in trees

Norfolk location seems fine for Brent which cf. to PF do look black from a distance - the white flanks are not always visible, especially if they are facing you or squatting down on the ground

look at these pics Betty

http://www.westwitteringbeach.co.uk/...rent_geese.jpg

http://lh6.ggpht.com/_LbS5An41vu4/Rm...+Wittering.JPG